


the day before senior year

by captainstarspangled



Series: five times peter has a panic attack in front of the team [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Hurt Peter Parker, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:13:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24942112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainstarspangled/pseuds/captainstarspangled
Summary: the last week before senior year is a stressful one for peter.bottling it all up until he cracks might not be the smartest idea.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: five times peter has a panic attack in front of the team [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801429
Comments: 3
Kudos: 69





	the day before senior year

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! part two is here :)
> 
> I was thinking about making the +1 the initial attack steve was referring to in the first one? tell me whatcha think

Peter had spent the reminder of the summer break relaxing with his friends and working on the suit together with Tony.  
And pretty quickly, the end of august was approaching and with it, Peter's 17th birthday and the beginning of senior year.  
There was no sign of Peter's anxiety after the attack in the briefing room until the last week of summer break when Tony had decided to take him back to school shopping for the third year in a row.  
Aunt May was at a special out of state heart massage course and Tony had offered Peter could stay at the tower for those six days, which both May and the teenager were thankful for. 

"So, senior year huh?" Tony said when they left the tower in his Audi. 

"Yeah," Peter said with a smile. He was pretty excited for this year of his life, and in addition to that he would turn 17 in four days and be able to drive on his own in the city. "Any advice?"

"I don't think I'm the right person to tell you. I was 14 years old and stressed out of my mind about applying to all the Ivys and MIT. Got drunk a lot, didn't deal well."

And suddenly, Peter felt his heart rate pick up a bit and his mind fall into an uncomfortable state of agility. This confused him for he was not consciously feeling anxious and he also didn't really think he had to be, and so he just swallowed the feeling as a whole and sheepishly asked Tony if there was any chance for him to write him a referral letter for the nine universities he would apply to in order to qualify for scholarships.

Tony suppressed a chuckle and explained that he would pay for Peter's tuition, no scholarships needed. 

"What? No Mr. Stark, I can't take that from you." Peter's heart was beating with positive excitement now and to him that was totally fine. 

"I figured you'd say that, so let's do some calculations. I recruited you two and a half years ago and you haven't received any money for your services."

"Yes Mr. Stark but you let me hang around and took me places and the suit..."

"Required gear and business travel isn't usually included in a salary, is it? Now if you were an intern, you'd have a pretty high up position, right below the owner of the company, huh? Let's say you'd earn a generous 2.5k a month, which puts you at 75k earned by now, 100 in a year and then you'll hopefully continue to show up here a few times a year?"

Peter nodded. "Of course, but..." This situation was a bit much too him. He was so humble and the offer so generous that he had absolutely no idea what to say. He figured since Tony had no son to put through college, he was doing it through him. But it felt so wrong. "It just doesn't feel right," Peter sighed. 

"Look, you've got a few months until applications are due. If you haven't made peace with it by then, you can apply for scholarships alright? Just know that you're covered, whether it is by me or by scholarships or parts of each." 

Peter swallowed hard. "Wow, thank you so much Mr. Stark."

The teenager's anxiety went under for a while after the conversation, but shopping for clothes and stationery put him right back into the previous agility. And it only got worse with his birthday approaching because he didn't need or want gifts and the Avengers were always so generous and he never knew how to react. 

It was no surprise to him that when he got up four days later, a brunch buffet was set on Stark tower's terrace and the entire team was there, including Agent Hill and Nick Fury himself. Peter loved all the hugs he received as well as most thoughtful gifts from all over the world and different realms and it was just beautiful. A party was planned for the evening, to which Ned and MJ were invited and those of the team who had enough spare time to stick around. 

Tony had got him, only to his surprise, a brand new car so that he had no problem getting to college and back and also because he loved the kid to pieces. Peter may or may not have shed a tear or two at the gift, making the team like him even more than they already did. 

Before Peter knew, it was already Tuesday night before high school would start again, and his underlying anxiety seemed to be peaking that day already. It was also the day of his fortnightly combat training at the tower's gym together with Natasha, who noticed him to be a bit shaky but ruled it to the first school day the next day. 

The ex assassin was able to land a lot more punches than usually, but Peter's agility was becoming worse and worse, and he didn't really register what was happening if he had to think about it later. 

The gym was empty save for Thor who'd left a few minutes ago, and for some reason it helped Peter calm a little and he could finally pin Natasha down for quite a while. 

"Hey not bad," she said after she had softly hit his arm three times to show she was giving up. "Good to see your spiderness coming back," she said with a wink and then got up. 

"Hahah, yeah, sp-...spiderness," Peter said with a blush, heart rate picking up on speed once again. 

"I'll be right back, afterwards we can stretch and call it a night?" the redhead said and exited the gym for the bathroom. 

Peter felt his heart rate become faster and faster, and seemed to physically feel color drain from his face as he thought about having to go out there again after six weeks inside. What would people think? Would he be safe? Would his life be endangered like last time again? 

When the teenager snapped out of his thoughts, he was already sweating thoroughly and his hands were shaking, and his heart didn't seem to be done speeding up yet. He was all alone and it was so scary, so the only thing that came to his mind was calling someone, because he couldn't possibly walk a longer distance without his heart giving out. 

The gym bag with Peter's belongings was thankfully only a few steps away, and if he had to retell the story later, he would say he had walked for hours to get there while it took him two seconds, and he fumbled through selecting Steve's phone number and calling him, because the Captain knew what to do. 

"Kid?" Steve picked up on the second ring, because Peter usually didn't call. 

"Mr... Mr. Rogers I can't." Peter dropped the phone, he couldn't feel his legs and yet he was standing. The clonk that the phone made with the gym mat on the floor rang in his ears and he thought that surely this was it, he was going to die or suffer brain damage from lack of oxygen - hiccups and loud breaths shuttered through his chest - all alone at the gym. 

Then the door opened, and Peter couldn't turn around because the control over his body wasn't wired to his brain anymore, and he knew it had to be Natasha or Steve. The teenager dearly wished for it to be the latter, because he didn't want Natasha to see him this way now that he felt the tear tracks on his cheeks. His watch was vibrating, once again telling him his heart rate was too high and then he felt an arm around his shoulder. 

"Hey Peter, why don't we sit down for a bit?" Natasha asked, and then she was walking him to a bean bag at the glass front of the gym, and suddenly it was going so fast and he was already sitting down. Natasha sat down next to him, as well as she could for the bean bag was steep right next to Peter's shaking body. 

"Here," Natasha said and took one of his hands into hers and started rubbing his arm with her other hand. "Can you count back from 100 in steps of three?"

The teenager closed his eyes and did just that, while Natasha nudged him to breathe deep and slowly. 

Steve came running into the gym before Peter had calmed down completely, but he was usually a bit shaky after attacks so he figured he was fine. Using the bottom of his shirt to wipe the few tear streaks off his face, the teenager finally turned to face his two team mates. 

"Are you okay Peter? You scared me," Steve said when he started walking towards the two. 

Peter nodded in response. "I'm sorry," he croaked out and looked up at Natasha who ran her hand through his hair. 

"Nothing to apologize for, I'm just glad you're better now," Steve said sheepishly while Natasha nodded along. 

The teenager asked Steve to stay with them while they finished up, because although he would wish for it to be Tony, he felt safest with the Captain around right then.

Steve Rogers was moved that the kid put so much trust in him, and at the same time he was worried that Peter would have to be put on medication if things wouldn't get better.

**Author's Note:**

> this was a lenghty one! but I think it covered quite a lot of things that would've been unclear otherwise. 
> 
> I also want Tony to be the father figure one, but at the same time I think building it up like this will give me good bonding possibilities for the future? idk, I'll see what happens :)


End file.
